Check in at Wadi Feynan Eco-Lodge and get a room key and a candle. In a remote area of southern Jordan, the lodge is lit solely by candlelight. It’s a new tourist attraction, but a long list of previous guests to the area dates back some 10,000 years ago, according to archaeologists.

Six nature reserves, including Wadi Feynan, are managed by the government’s Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN). These reserves employ local people in the hospitality industry, as well as in the manufacturing of eco-friendly products — jams, soaps, herbs, dried fruit leather, silver jewelry, hand painted ostrich eggs and silkscreening. Each has its own specialty.

The neighboring reserves of Azraq and Shaumari are havens for migrating birds, and thus bird-watchers. A 1940s British military hospital there will open as a lodge next spring. The Arabian oryx, an endangered white antelope, is being bred on the reserve.

Dana, in the Rift Valley, boasts three ecosystems from the mountains to the desert dunes. Mujib calls itself "the lowest reserve on earth," as it borders the Dead Sea — the lowest spot on earth at 1,300 feet below sea level. Ajloun’s forest includes pistachio, oaks, carob and strawberry trees. Hiking tours highlight wildflowers and other plants.

With financial support from the U.S. State Department’s Agency for International Development (AID), these reserves create "economic opportunities in remote areas," according to Chris Johnson, director of the Wild Jordan Center in Amman. They have become "quite a major force for job creation and a significant sector for tourism."

The guest houses on the reserves are staffed by the local Bedhouin community. Johnson said that although it takes time to train, and they had some difficulty in finding a chef, the Jordanian sense of hospitality is great. Some of the staff had never experienced a flush toilet and had to learn that. Also, since most are used to living in tents and not level homes, Johnson said the pictures on the walls are often crooked.

At Wild Jordan, called "a city retreat for nature lovers," recycling, healthy eating and eco-friendly shopping merge. Nestled on the side of a hill among other buildings, the center overlooks the Jebel Amman neighborhood and the Citadel, the highest point in Amman. The architecture combines simple materials, all made in Jordan, such as scaffolding timbers, recycled metal handrails, crushed soda cans and unfinished cement, and uses low energy light bulbs, solar panels and diesel. The café serves low-fat healthy food and has been unbelievably successful, according to Amer Jamhour, sales and marketing director.

This new wave in touring Jordan takes the tourist out of the sterile hotel setting and plunges him into the realities of a small arid country facing the persistent problems of water shortages and the disintegration of the land. Although it can be a profitable industry, the goal is to protect nature, while showcasing it.